The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing an aerosol from a liquid.
Medical inhalation devices are known and are commercially available for treating diseases and/or irritations of the respiratory tract and for performing controlled clinical trials. Typically, such devices form aerosols by dispersing liquids by means of compressed air or ultrasonic nebulization. Known medical aerosol generators are subject to the disadvantages that
1) the concentration of the aerosol can be adjusted only within very narrow limits (.+-.20%), if at all; PA1 2) the concentration of the aerosol is not monitored; PA1 3) comparatively large amounts of a substance, usually at least several milliliters, are needed for the devices to operate properly to produce aerosols; PA1 4) liquids that tend to foam or froth cannot be atomized; and PA1 5) the concentration of the resulting aerosol tends to vary over time.
These disadvantages are serious and render such inhalators inadequate for use as atomizers for research purposes, e.g. for determining effective dosages of pharmacologically active substances, for specific provocation of the airways with various irritants, or for activity studies on drugs administered by inhalation.
Compounds synthesized for research purposes are often very expensive and frequently are available only in small amounts. Commercially available atomizers require comparatively large amounts of material to produce aerosols and are not suitable for producing uniform aerosols from very small amounts of substances.